ONE of my earliest memories of my family home in Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow is of watching a young Joe Foley hand lead horses around the paddock behind our house which backed onto Ballyhane Stud. Mr and Mrs Foley have come a long way since those days and the business they have built up is a real credit to them.

My first job in racing was with Pat Fahy and his wife Nathalie, at Ellen Lodge Stables. I was 14 at the time and started off doing weekends and school holidays. The Fahys were only just starting out training and had no more than eight or 10 horses. I was there to witness their first winner, Sheer Mist, who won at 50/1 in Tipperary, and later saw Cobblers Rock claim his first point-to-point.